Riding with Uralisti, camping with Martha

 Friday, August 27

Did some exploring of back trails and such with Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 dualsport.  Encountered an old timer, Vietnam Vet, sitting outside his old motorhome, enjoying the sun while seated on a stool.  We talked for quite a bit about many subjects.  I found out info about dispersed camping but all of it quite unreachable by the VRRV.  He then expounded on family history, politics, and background....sometimes quite vehemently.

The encounter was pleasant enough, but it did fire off a warning in my head, that without due care I could be such an old timer solitary cuss, sitting in the woods, rambling on to passing strangers.

Mountain view (Mt Warren?) near where I chatted with the old timer

I think the above is junction of FR 7161 and FR7131

I spotted a female Moose and her calf at the Apex Valley Road junction, near the few houses located there.  It would have been great to have my Sony HX80 with its zoom function but alas, it's on the way to the shop for repairs.

In due time, I arrived at the Pickle Gulch Group Campsite to be able to help Dan K and his lovely wife Yuen cart supplies to the walk-in group site he'd reserved.  (I should have delayed my arrival by 30 minutes! )  There were several wheelbarrow loads of stuff to be moved.  Luckily, the campground people had supplied common use wheelbarrows!

Uralisti started to trickle in.  John and Cookie S., Tim L. arrived and set up their tents and we caught up on past doings.  It's been quite a while, mostly due to the pandemic, that we'd gathered as a Uralista group to ride.  I believe it was SEP of 2019 to be exact.

Once things were in order, I returned to camp to await Martha's arrival.  Martha drove up from the overcrowded cesspool that is Metro Denver after work and by 5:30 or so was at my campsite.

We drove in her car the 4 miles or so to the Pickle Gulch Group Campground and met up with the rest of the gang as they prepared their dinners and we caught up on past rides, stories and happenings.

Two more fellow Uralisti showed up around 8PM, Jay and Deana, completing most of the nucleus of the CZAR group.  CZAR: Colorado Zidecar Adventure Riders.

Saturday, August 28

Riding Day!  Boy did we ride!  Dan K. led us through quite the route which while not long in terms of distance, was quite extensive in terms of twisty canyon roads, dirt roads, sharp switchbacks and simply riding fun.  Not many stops for pics though.  Just as well as cellular data signal here has degraded from past days, I'm guessing the weekender load on the system.

Here's a ReLive video produced by Jay and Deana, shows you the route we took.

video courtesy of Jay and Deana

There were many vehicles on some of the paved roads we traveled on, reminded me how crowded things get up here in the mountains near the cesspool that is Denver.

Some photos taken by Deana as she rode in the sidecar with Jay, that's Dan K as he lead the way through the ride:

photo courtesy of Jay and Deana

photo courtesy of Jay and Deana

photo courtesy of Jay and Deana

We even, against large odds, ran into another Uralisti who'd missed our departure time from the camp in the morning.  Mark L and his blue GearUP found us at a road junction and joined us for the remainder of the road to our lunch location!

photo courtesy of Jay and Deana

Riding towards Kittredge, CO

photo courtesy of Jay and Deana

Lunch was in Kittredge at the Smokehouse.  

photo courtesy of Jay and Deana

Across the stream which bordered the smokehouse where we ate, was this perilously situated deck:

After lunch, some more riding during which Tim L. and Mark L. split off from the group to head on home while the remaining four rigs 

photo courtesy of Jay and Deana